Letter to the Editor --- Nov. 25

Posted:
11/25/2013 10:17:22 AM MST

City council should explain

It is time for the city council to come clean with the citizens of Sterling.

Soon to be ex-mayor Heather Brungardt was on the radio explaining that she has tried to get Joe Kiolbasa terminated for the past three years. I believe what she said, as her personal vendetta has been very obvious. A search of the city council meeting minutes shows that on April 24, 2012, then council member Brungardt made a motion to modify Mr. Kiolbasa's contract from an annual contract to a month-to-month contract. Council member Pat Lawson seconded the motion, and the motion passed on a 7-0 vote.

So I have to ask, if the council did indeed put Mr. Kiolbasa on a month-to-month contract, why was he paid six months of salary and benefits? On a month-to-month contract, you can simply let the contract expire and not renew it. Mr. Kiolbasa's contract is public record. Anyone can ask for a copy. As it turns out the city council, along with City Attorney Curt Penny, did not modify Mr. Kiolbasa's contract to a month-to-month despite what they represented in the open council meeting.

While Mr. Kiolbasa had his faults, it is the city council that has pulled the wool over the eyes of Sterling. It's time for the entire city council to be held accountable for misleading the citizens of Sterling and in essence wasting $83,600 of the taxpayers' money. More so, Mayor Brungardt, who openly admits to being the ringleader of Mr. Kiolbasa's ousting, should be held accountable for her lack of attention to detail and in essence lying to the citizens of Sterling.

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I challenge Dan Torres, mayor-elect, to hold himself to the platform that he ran on, which was "Available, Visible, Accountable," and to provide answers as to why Mr. Kiolbasa's contract was not modified to a month-to-month basis as represented in the council meeting.

I can't help but ask myself what else has this city council either lied about or has allowed to let fall through the cracks? Either way, these aren't the people I would want representing me!